In this blog post, we will look at how your emotional background can be a competitive advantage in your designer self-introduction letter, along with specific examples of how to express it.

 

Growth

“Finding stability through drawing.”
I have been very competitive since I was a child. Growing up as the second of three sisters, I was raised trying to get my parents’ attention between my older sister and younger sister, which made me competitive. Before my younger sister was born, I was the youngest and got all the attention, but when my sister was born three years later, I felt like I lost that attention. So, when I was young, I used to bully my sister, but as I grew up, I realized that my parents loved me equally, and I started treating my sister better.
However, I wanted to do everything better than my sister and brother, so I worked hard at everything. I tried to do everything my sister did, and I studied hard. I was interested in various fields and attended piano, taekwondo, and art classes, always working hard to earn my parents’ praise. As I attended art classes, I received praise from my teachers and often won awards in school art contests, which boosted my self-esteem. My parents also praised me often for my talent in drawing and supported me greatly. Once I found something I was good at and enjoyed doing, I became emotionally stable. I no longer felt jealous of my sister and younger sister, and my sisters and I became closer. I loved drawing so much that I could focus on it for hours without worrying about anything else.
Until elementary school, I was very jealous, lively, and the loudest child in the family, but since I started liking drawing, my personality has become much calmer. As we grew up, my parents loved that my sisters and I didn’t fight and became closer. My sister and I developed different interests and talents, so we supported each other and respected each other’s tastes.
My parents always gave me many opportunities to experience nature. We often went on family trips so that I could experience nature and feel at ease, preventing my emotions from becoming dry.

 

Personality

“Cautious and meticulous”
I am interested in many things and have excellent concentration. Drawing helps me concentrate, and when I read or study, I am so focused that I cannot hear the sounds around me. I am interested in a wide range of topics, and I often apply ideas I find in books to my drawings. My concentration leads to thoroughness and attention to detail, allowing me to do everything perfectly.
Being careful and thorough is another strength. When drawing, I always carefully check why parts turned out differently than I intended. And because I think a lot while drawing, I have developed a habit of always thinking carefully when doing anything in my daily life.
This thoughtfulness can sometimes be a disadvantage when making important decisions. Unlike when I was younger and would just dive in and give it my all, I now find that I sometimes cannot make a decision because I consider too many factors. To prevent this from becoming a disadvantage, I try to compensate by seeking advice from adults, seniors, and friends when I feel that I am thinking too deeply.

 

School Life and Extracurricular Activities

“Talent proven through contests”
During college, I was encouraged by a close friend to join a volunteer club. After sitting for hours concentrating on drawing, it was helpful to relax and refresh my mind through activities that were completely different. When I was involved in club activities, I stopped doing quiet, focused work and became more active and sociable. I regularly visited facilities for people with disabilities to help them with physical activities. That led me to learn sign language and participate in the production of audiobooks for the hearing impaired.
While majoring in visual design, I created works using various graphic programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator, along with manual work. It took time to get used to graphic programs, but now I rely on them a lot. I make good use of graphic tools to replace tedious manual work.
My most memorable experiences from college are the results I achieved in two contests. I won the silver prize in a 2D animation contest held by a telecommunications company. I had a lot of practical training and assignments at school, so I didn’t have much time to prepare for the contest. I decided to just finish the work I had started and submit it, but it turned out to be a great result.
The second was an animation for the promotion of Gyeonggi culture, which I submitted as part of a team with friends who were also preparing their graduation projects for a youth animation contest hosted by Gyeonggi Province. We were friends who had worked together on our graduation projects, so we got along well, but the process of deciding on a topic and dividing up the work was not easy. It was difficult to find time because it coincided with the final exam period, but I enjoyed the process of creating the work with my friends. We enjoyed the process, and it showed in the results, and we were honored with the Excellence Award.

 

Career

“Recognized for creativity and planning skills.”
I took my first steps as a designer at the design team of the product planning department at XX Co. It was a company specializing in fancy stationery, so the design team was very powerful. There was a clear hierarchy between seniors and juniors, and our designs were thoroughly evaluated in meetings. We had a lot of design work to do, so we often had to work late. However, I enjoyed it because I knew that my seniors had also gone through the same process.
As a new employee, I was given the important task of designing calendars, which is rare for a new employee, and in my second year, I planned a set of daily necessities such as cushions and mugs featuring characters, which contributed greatly to sales and earned me an award for excellence at the end of the year. I am confident that the design, planning, and illustration skills I acquired on the job, as well as my creative ideas and planning abilities, will bring new inspiration to Artbox.

 

Reason for applying and aspirations after joining the company

“I will design a world of fresh imagination!”
I get a lot of ideas from watching anime while designing stationery and fancy goods. Rather than simply borrowing characters from anime, I get ideas from the backgrounds and props in the anime and develop them into my own items to create hit products.
Art Box is a company with unrivaled know-how and history in the stationery and fancy goods industry in Korea. With its unique items and creative ideas, I believe that Art Box will provide me with a foundation to grow as a designer by utilizing my skills and experience.
My unique ideas and constant desire for innovation are what drive me to become a better designer.
At Art Box, a world of imagination, unlimited creativity, and endless endorphins, I will become a designer who creates a world of free imagination through fresh creativity.